The Modern Day End
by Jennie-Blossom
Summary: The world froze. The last mission to save mankind has failed and now the whole world has a little more than three weeks to live. Will Helga finally come to grips and tell Arnold how she feels? Contains: Death, Sexual Situations, Drugs/Alcohol, Language, and Tragedy. Just really sad stuff. Please read and review!
1. Dorothy Cometh

Arnold was in a diner. He and Gerald went and had gotten a bite to eat, infact Arnold had ordered a cheese burger. It was good, juicy, cooked well. They were sitting at the counter and Gerald was flirting with the waitress. They had the T.V. on, the news. They were talking about the weather for next monday. The waitress had said something funny and had Arnold choking on his burger from laughter. Gerald smacked his back a couple times for good measure. Arnold took a sip of his soda for reassurance.

It was a good life. Arnold had just gotten a job as an intern at the local hospital. An acceptance letter that he was waiting a long time for. It basically said he could start his life. He could get in on track and become a doctor like he always wanted. He loved helping people and couldn't be happier doing anything else. He had a girl friend, a med student as well. The had met in Pre-Med but she was trying to be a surgeon. Emily. The name made Arnold smile. They shared an apartment on the westside of town. Arnold had just turned twenty-three and really trying to decide if this was the girl he was going to marry.

Gerald lived more of a free life. He had recently bought a bar and was fixing it up. The Grand Opening was in two months and he was nervous. He kept telling Arnold that there was so much to do but little time. As his friend, he made sure Gerald stayed confident and on track. He was going to make it, he knew it. Gerald often threw parties at his apartment downtown, the Arnold often went to when he had time. Something Emily didn't really like, especially when she was stuck at work and Arnold was out having fun. She definately had trust issues.

Gerald was making a sexual joke toward the waitress when the alarm went off. It surprise Arnold and Gerald making them jump. The T.V. had a live broadcast. It was an alert.

"Louise, turn that up." The cook had yelled to the waitress and she did what she was told.

The diner was loud when they had came in, but it was down to a quiet mummble, then nothing at all. Everyone in the room knew what it was. Everyone was interested. It was about the mission.

A man had appeared behind a news desk, he had papers in his hands. "This is the live update that you have been waiting for about Dorothy."

Dorothy. Arnold gulped. It was a comet that was on a course collison with Earth. Found a couple weeks ago, NASA has been trying to figure out how to stop it. It was about the size of Vermont, big enough to kill 3/4's of the population. The first thing they did was send a probe to try and turn the comet's path. Sadly, the atmosphere on the comet was very dangerous and was knocked apart from the impact of tiny little asteroids orbiting Dorothy. Thier next plan was to blow it up. This was the saddest plan of all.

The nuclear bomb had taken off a good chuck, which everyone cheered for on Earth that day. But later that night, as the Earth turned, Paris was obliterated. A bunch of tiny asteroids for the explosion wiped it out nearly off the map. Fires, explosions. The population of 12 million dwindled to just 5 million. More than half of Paris died that day. West Europe is still having aftershocks to this day.

Now this news man was going to tell everyone in that diner if the last hope of humanity had made it. They sent a team of six up on the comet to try and blow it up from the center. It caused a lot of panic, for people were worried it would be Paris all over again. But they did it anyway.

"Team Earth arrived on Dorothy late last night. They were unable to make a safe landing, killing Shane Capperel and Kai Korwaza, an Amercian and Japanese astronaut. The crash landing made thier ship unable to return."

Thier waitress had started crying. Arnold had a lump in his throat and could feel his self not breathing. The diner felt empty, even the grill had stop hissing from meat being thrown on it. The phone was no longer ringing and even servers had stopped right in the middle of the diner as they were brining foor out. Everyone was frozen. It seemed like the world had stopped with them. Even the car outside were all braked, as if they all were tuned into the radio.

"Knowing that they were standed and not coming home, they continued, They began drilling but the hazordous winds cause a landslide and destroyed the drill and 3 more astronauts, Lou Millona, a Frence astronaut, and Natasha Troginof and Dimitri Rov, two Russian astronauts, died instantly. The remaining hero, Ryan Bass contacted Houston hours ago informing them of the details that the last hope for humantiy has failed. They had lost contact of Bass for serval hours now." He cleared his throat. "The sixty mile wide comet, Dorothy, is set to collide with Earth in 24 days. Fox news will be here to bring you all the lastest updates on Dorothy until then. We now bring you back to regular programing schedule."

"Arnold..."Gerald whsipered, but his voice seemed so far away.

Twenty four days. Arnold's mind was racing. All that money he saved during highschool so he could go to pre med. So he could become a doctor. All that time, all that money. Wasted. And Emily. He was to never get married or have kids! His hands were squeeze so tight, they were turning white.

"Arnold!" Gerald shook him and he came back to reality. Suddenly all the sounds around him became clear. The waitress that was so happy just moments earlier was to her knees, sobbing into her hands. A lot of the people began rushing into the street, some screaming at the sky. People at the diner scrambled to thier phones, trying to call whoever would listen.

"Gerald..I-I can't believe it..." Was all Arnold could muster out.

"Arnold, lets get out of here." Gerald threw money on the table, not sure how much, and the two got out of there.

*_WHILE THAT WAS HAPPENING*_

Helga dropped her bowl of popcorn and it scattered all over the floor like rain. Bob was in his usual spot in front of the T.V., in his Big Bob recliner. After cellphones and smart phone became the thing, Bob sold furniture. He said people are always gonna need crap to fill thier homes with. Beepers, no. Miriam immediatly became histerical, saying no no no over and over. Bob became loud and violent, began throwing things.

Helga just stood there, her mouth gapping open. The Earth ending was something she couldn't comprehend. She always thought crazy people were worried about the world ending. Did that make her crazy? Her cell began vibrating in her skinny jean's pocket. She picked it up and held it to her ear. No words came out of her mouth.

"Helga! Oh my god! Helga? Are you there! Can you hear me? Helga, this is awful!" The voice was familiar. It was sobbing. She needed comfort, and Helga couldn't say one damn word.

"Helga! It's Pheobe! Please say something!"

"Pheobe.." Helga choked out. She felt like she could breath. She was going to die. She was going to die without telling Arnold she loved him. And now it was too late, everyone was going to die!

After highschool, Helga had the smarts to do anything. But what? Thats where whe was stuck. She loved writing. She wanted to become a writer for plays, for movies, or even have her own book out and go to book signings. But Bob wasn't paying for some looney school for writing. His daughter was going to be better than that. So he told her to either sell furniture for that school or go to Law School. Helga was no way going to be a lawyer, so she sold furniture to pay for her school. It wasn't going well. Her books weren't taking off due to the new technology. Bookstores were becoming obsolete.

Now everyone was to be obsolete.

Bob began screaming at Miriam, telling her to stop sobbing. Things were getting worse between them. Middle school, he started to hit Miriam. Highschool, Bob started to hit Helga. She covered her bruises well. Helga was beautiful in Highschool. She had grown to have the body of a supermodel. Long blonde hair, long legs, pouty lips with large eyes. She hated to attention. She dressed in baggy clothes and black to try and scare people away. It worked, except the goth boys wouldn't leave her alone.

Arnold was on the swim team, he was popular. They hung out with different crowds, had different worlds. But she still longed for him. She purposely switched her classes to his, he never noticed. No one did. She still kept her secret, kept her love rants well hidden. Followed him through the halls until her four years were up and he went off to med school. She knew he was back and through Pheobe, she had heard he had gotten a job at the hospital.

"Pheobe." Helga repeated. She was now back to Earth. "Are you okay? Pheobe? I'm so sorry." She could hear she crying into the phone.

"Helga. Please. I need you."

Someone needed Helga and it definately wasn't her family. "I'll be right over."

*_SEVERAL MINTUES LATER*_

The streets were in chaos. Gerald was driving Arnold home. He was worried about Emily. She wasn't answering her phone. He knew she was home, she didn't have work till four. Gerald carefully navigated through the craziness of people breaking into store. They had past a Big Bob's Furniture store that was being looted for T.V.s, steros, and other expensive equipment. Gerald finally made it to thier apartment and Arnold practically jumped out of the car.

"Emily!" He shouted. He wasn't sure why he was shouting, there was no danger. Atleast, not now. The city wasn't that bad yet. There was no violence, no looting of actual homes. Just stores.

He opened the door. The T.V. was on loud, still on the news channel, but no Emily. "Emily?" He yelled. The living room followed into the kitchen in the back of thier little townhouse. He checked the kitchen with no sign of her. The downstairs bathroom, nothing. Upstairs was the only place she would be.

"Emily!" He called going up the stairs. The bedroom door was cracked and he heard cracking coming from the room.

"Emily? Is that you? Why aren't you answering your pho-" He was stopped when opned the door.

A limp body hung from the rafters, swinging back and forth making the cracking noise from the rope digging into the wood.

"Oh god-" Arnold vomited.


	2. Getting Ready

"Arnold?"

Arnold's head half in a garbage can and half trying to comprehend the world around him. His mouth tasted sour and of his stomach. He needed water. He watched the shadow on the floor swing back and forth and felt himself gag again.

"Holy shitttt..." Gerald stood in the door way. "Fuck!" Gerald bursted out.

Arnold needed to get out of there. He couldn't be here. He grabbed a duffle bag, threw clothes in it and grab his father's journal out of his dresser drawer. He ran downstairs with Gerald following close behind.

"Dude? Are you okay? What the fu-I don't even know what is going on right now!" Gerald screamed while pulling his hair.

Arnold didn't say a word. What was he to say? That his girlfriend was sercretly suicidal and couldn't take the news of the world ending? Who could? Who's to say she wasn't wrong? They were all going to die shortly. Why not be in control of it?

Arnold scrambled to the fridge and grabbed a couple of sandwichs. Then went behind the fridge and pulled out a jar that was filled with money. He and Emily were saving it towards a house.

"Not anymore." He whispered.

"Arnold, man! You gotta say somethin! You're runnin around like a mad man dude!"

Arnold stopped and turned to face his long time friend. "Gerald, I can't be here. We gotta go! I can't deal with...THAT!" He motioned to the ceiling. "I don't even know what to do with that! Gerald, what do I do?" Arnold was frustrated and showed it.

Gerald rubbed the back of his head not knowing what to say.

"Gerald...I can't stay here...it's too much. Memoeries and...Gerald, should we even throw a funeral? I mean..." His emotions flooded in. "Gerald, all I know is that I can't stay here right now. I'll decided what to do...later."

Arnold continued to dump the jar of crinkled money into his duffle bag. Actually, he wasn't sure if was coming back at all. He had 24 days to live, and he wasn't spending in here. Suddenly his pants were vibrating. His beeper.

_Work._

He was on call and work was calling him. There were other people probably doing the same thing Emily did. Trying and failing and getting seriously hurt. There were people looting and there would probably be violent people. People that needed help, that needed Arnold.

"What is it?" Gerald asked.

"Work." He answered then threw his beeper in the trash.

At that moment, Gerald's pant seemed to be vibrating too.

_*EARLIER*_

Helga ran out into the street where there seemed to be a lot of other people running as well. A cab was flying up.

"Taxi!" Helga called waving her hand out. The cab started to drive toward her but he didn't seem to slow down. He jumped the sidewalk a few hundred feet back and seemed to be heading striaght toward her.

_This maniac is trying to kill me!_

Helga dove out of the way in the knick of time, she fell to her her knees and hands scraping them a little. The cab hit the light pole right infront of her house. She jumped up to her feet.

"Crimney!" She shouted. She stayed still keeping her eye on the cabbie door. He could still be crazy, but Helga noticed he wasn't moving. She crept up to the door.

She was surprised at what she saw a gasp escaped her. The man, who seemed Chinese but who really knew, his face was smashed right into his wheel. The airbags didn't deploy, which made his face bloody. Glass was everywhere and he was cut up. He wasn't breathing. Helga slowly stepped back, afraid to turn her back or look away. Afraid that maybe he was going to suddenly come after her, to get her back for his death.

That made her shudder. She turned and ran as fast as she could to Pheobe's.

Helga was sure that was the first time she saw a dead person. Someone that was alive, and then just like that, was dead. If she hadn't jumped out of the way, she would be just like him. Dead, on the ground just steps outside her house. Serve's him right, she tried to run me over. It was either him or me.

_Him or me._

That's the way it's going to be from now on. At least until the end. It was her against the world, the the world wasn't exactly nice.

It didn't take long to run to Pheobe's. She hadn't been more scared in her life, she also didn't think she ever ran this fast in her life. She didn't bother knocking on her door. They had always been friend's, through highschool and through Pheobe's college years for Aviation. Pheobe was trying to be a pilot. When Helga was here, she felt at home. She could be gone forever and she would always feel like home here.

"Pheobe!" Helga said as she bursted in.

Pheobe was on her cell, first was caught by surprise, then glad from who was now standing in her doorway.

"Okay, Helga just got here. I have to go!" She hung up the phone fast and ran towards Helga. "Helga!"

"Pheebs."

Pheobe hugged Helga the tightest she could. "Oh Helga! This is awful! What are going to do?"

Helga rubbed Pheobe's hair. "I don't know. I don't know."

Pheobe then realized the door was still open, ans she closed it.

"Did you get over here okay?" She asked. "The news is saying people are looting all over the city. Some are even rioting!"

"Yeah I know!" Helga exclaimed. "Some psycho almost ran me over with his cab! Literaly jumped the sidewalk just to hit me!"

"Oh my gosh, Helga, thats awful! Are you okay!"

"Yeah. Just a little scrapped up." She showed Pheobe her hands and knees. Was not a good day to wear shorts.

"Lets clean you up."

Helga followed Phoebe into her bathroom. She went into her medicine cabinet and pulled out some peroxide and bandaids. As she was prepping to clean Helga, Pheobe began to talk.

"That was Gerald on the phone."

Pheobe and Gerald kept in contact with each other. They dated in highschool, then broke it off for college. Then dated in college when they thought they made a mistake, but then broke it off. For Pheobe, it was hard to stop talking to him all together. Even though it hurt her to watch him have girlfriend after girlfriend, she could give him up. And that was okay with him. He was weirdly okay with her coming to him, crying over what guy just broke her heart. They were odd.

"How is he handling the news of Dorothy coming to squish us?" Helga asked, holding her hand out for Pheobe.

"I dont' know. He's with Arnold-"

"Arnold?"

"Yes, Arnold. His girlfriend just commited suicide in thier apartment." Pheobe said flatly.

"Ouch." Helga muttered. She knew of Emily. She was always on track with who Arnold was dating. She knew this was a serious one.

"They are stopping by Gerald's to get a couple things, and then they are heading over. Helga, Gerald says it getting bad. They say we need to get out of the city. It's not safe. We have to leave, Helga." Pheobe explained.

"Leave? But my parents?" Helga didn't know why she said that. Her parents didn't care where she was. Maybe she was making excuses. Maybe she disn't want to leave. She was born here, why couldn't she die here? "And where would we go?"

Pheobe shrugged. "We have to wait for them to come here. I'm guessing we'll decide then."

_Arnold._

The last time she talked to Arnold was a couple month ago. They ran right into each other on a street corner, literally ran into each other. He knocked the groceries out of her hands and split her lemons out into the street. He was a gentalman, picking up her things. He tried to make small talk, asking her how she had been. He had told her that he was going to be a doctor, and Emily. He was happy. She seriously thought that day about moving on.

Now, under these awful circumstances, they were to see each other again. And he would be single, again, under awful circumstances. Maybe this was finally her time, right before the humanity's time was up.


	3. Kyle

It was madness. Arnold couldn't imagine how it felt for Gerald driving. People weren't obying traffic laws. People running all over. He was surprised they didn't kill a family of five on thier way over to Pheobe's.

Earlier, Gerald had said it was probably going to get worse. That they may have to leave the city for a while. When they were at Gerald's he made sure to do the same as Arnold. Grab important things, and cash. Lots of it. Who knows if banks would still work. Or even cash. Who knew what mattered anymore.

They knew Gerald's little VW Golf wasn't going to do. They needed something big, something they could possibly sleep in on the road. Luckly, Gerald remember Pheobe's dad having something like that. Hopefully they could use it. Gerald had told Arnold that Helga was with Pheobe. That made him uneasy. Helga always made him nervous. Through his childhood, it was a is-she-going-to-hit-me nervous. Highschool it was a is-she-going-to-burn-down-the-school nervous. And thier last run in, it was an unknown nervous. One that came deep from his gut. On that street corner a couple months ago, she was wearing a pink sundress. It was soft, flowy. Her hair long and blowing in the wind. And she was..tolerable. She didn't say much.

Sitting in Geralds car, thinking back to that moment, he thought maybe she was hiding something. Maybe spend his end of days with Helga wouldn't be so bad. Moments later they pulled up and quickly got out of the car. At first Gerald was about to knock, but walked in instead.

There they were in the living, Helga crouching down and Pheobe getting things together. Helga seemed to be frustrated.

"Pheobe, just stop." She said as they walked in. "Oh look, here come the enstiens now."

Arnold frowned. Maybe this wasn't a good idea.

"Gerald, you came." Pheobe came running over and hugged him.

"Of course I did." He smiled hugging back.

Arnold looked down. He didn't feel well. Maybe his shock was wearing off. He looked over to Helga.

"Don't be expecting a hug from me." She frowned from her spot on the floor.

"Good to see you too, Helga." Arnold responded sarcastically.

"So, what's the plan?" Pheobe asked looking mainly at Gerald.

"Well, we need a big vehicle. And we were hoping we could use your dad's van?"

Pheobe frowned. "Dad sold it months ago. Just took up space."

"Damn." Gerald thought for a moment. "Damn!" He shouted repeating his self.

"Well I'm not going anywhere." Helga anounced.

"That's stupid, Helga." Gerald said back to her. "Have you been outside?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact, I almost got ran over!"

"Are you alright?" Arnold suddenly asked.

Her heart fluttered at the thought of him caring about her well being. "I'm standing here, aren't I?"

Arnold rolled his eyes.

"It's better in here where we don't get ran over." She snorted.

"Helga, people are breaking throught businesses. What makes you thing they aren't gonna barg right on in here?" Arnold asked.

"Well..." Helga looked at the floor. She hadn't thought of that. "Alright, alright! I'm on board." She half knew she would be. Anywhere Arnold was going, she was. She knew this was it. She had to try harder.

"Helga..." Pheobe smiled at her.

"So, what we need is a big car. That's what you're saying, Gerald."

He nodded.

"Well, when in Rome do what the Romans do." She stood up folding her arms.

Arnold was confused. He didn't know what she meant. He looked to Gerald.

"I guess that's really the only thing. We gotta steal a car."

"What?" Arnold asked. "Steal a car? Uh no, I don't think that's a good idea."

"What wrong, Arnold?" Helga asked. "Is someone a little puss? Look Arnold, the world is ending! Dorothy is gonna kick our ass! Why dont you live a little?"

Helga stoppped. Saying it made it real. The world was really ending.

"I don't know, Helga." Arnold said.

At this moment Helga and Arnold took a good look at each other. Arnold, still in his hospital scrubs. Baby blue with white shoes. His hair was unrooly and sexy.

Helga was wearing jean shorts and a deep red tank top. She had black flats on. Her knees and hands had bandages on them. Her hair was down and wavy. Arnold thought she looked nice. The world ending seemed to unphase her.

"Look, Arnold, you said we need a van. Where are we going to get a van?"

_*ONE HOUR LATER*_

Where to steal the van was a dilema. Helga was against dealerships, thinking they were probably hit the most. Gerald thought of used car places, but they decided if they were going to steal a car, it was gonna be in good condition. Nothing that was going to break down. So Pheobe said Rent-A-Car.

They all got into Gerald's little Golf and made thier way to the nearest Rent-A-Car. Helga shared the back seat with Arnold. She looked down at his bag by his feet. She needed her own things too. Maybe they could stop after they got the van.

She found herself looking out the window. They passed this one house that was on fire. She heard Pheobe gasp, she noticed it to. And there was no one there to fight it. Helga frowned. If she had died on that sidewalk. She would've been left there. No one to come pick her up, just left there to rot in the sun. She shuddered.

They arrived at the Rent-A-Car. The lot was half full, and saw an R.V. in the back. That was better than a van. Arnold smiled. Maybe this wasn't so bad. R.V.s were fun, maybe they could make this into a road trip. Gerald parked by the building and walked in. The air smell of pot. The man at the counter had a joint lit and welcomed them kindly.

Helga was immediatly laughing. "Oh this is great! They guy is not only coming to work but he's smoking weed!"

Arnold and Pheobe laughed uneasily. Niether of them had smoked before. They tried to stay away from things like that.

"Hey guy's what's up?" The man's name nametag said Shaun.

"Hey man, can we have the R.V. in the back?" Gerald asked.

"Yeah." Shaun nodded.

"Like have it as in we're not coming back with it."

"Yeah."

"As in I'm going to return it."

"Yeah dude."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Really. Wow that was easy." Gerald smiled.

"I've been doing it all day. I don't even work here. My name isn't Shaun. Just came in and saw a bunch of keys. People have been coming in asking for cars all day."

"Really?" Arnold asked. "So, what is your name?"

"Kyle."

Helga laughed. "Oh god, this is great."

"You wanna hit?" Kyle asked trying to pass the joint to Arnold. He refused, then tried to pass it to everyone else. Everyone declined but Helga took a puff.

"Thanks man." She said, happily being able to do this before she went.

"Peace be with you." Kyle tossed them the R.V. keys.

They all waved goodbye to Kyle, all sad for this would be the first and last time with Kyle. They all grabbed thier things out of Gerald's car. Gerald had a few last moments with his car.

"You were good, Roxie." He said petting the roof. " You will be missed, girl."

The walked on to the R.V.

It was nice. Dark wood finishings with carpet. Right when you walked in the was a couch. To the left of the couch was the table with two benches on each side. Infront of all that was the kitch area with stove and sink and fridge. Farther back was the bathroom. And farther than that was a bedroom. To thier right was the driving area with two leather seat. Behind the passenger seat was a ladder going up to the slightly smaller bad of the two. There was a small TV on the kitchen table and a stero system with speaker located throughout the cabin. It was perfect.

"Wow, this is perfect accomodations for the four of us." Pheobe said as we all pilled in.

"Yeah!" Helga agreed plopping herself on the couch. "It's gonna be smooth sailing with this."

"Gerald, pass over the keys. I have this." Arnold smiled getting into the front seat. He didn't mind the tight turns of an R.V. It was intense and made Arnold feel alive. Plus Gerald had already done a lot of driving.

"You got it bro." He tossed them at Arnold and took passenger.

"Okay," Arnold said starting the beast. "Where to everybody?"

"I need to grab my things." Helga said. "I really didn't think I'd be leaving town."

"Do you still live in the same house?"

"Yeah, I'm not a doctor like you, Arnoldo, I still live with my parents." She retorted back.

"Helga's house it is. Then we should really consider where we are all going."

"We're all going to hell if we don't change our ways." Helga mummbled.

_*HELGAS*_

They pulled up side of Helga's house, noticing the cab that almost hit her. Then remembering the dead guy in it. She quickly ran into the house not wanting to look.

It was dark.

"Bob?" She called out.

It was a mess. There was papers everywhere, the hall desk was knocked over.

"Mom?" No one answered her.

She went into the kitchen. No one.

The left her. She was only gone for a couple hours. Pain strickened her heart. She truely felt alone. She ran upstairs and grabbed a backpack. She filled it with clothes and a brand new notebook that was barely written in. Her last writing would be her best. Too bad it would never be published. She grabbed a few other personal things and mad her way down and out of the house. She climbed into the R.V. Her face clearly upset about something.

"Everything okay?" Arnold asked, turned around in his seat to face her.

She nodded."Just go."


	4. TwentyThree Days Left

Night had fallen. It was dark and the only thing Arnold could see driving down I-80 west was the pavment that his light lit up. A few cars had passed by, but other than that, the road was quiet at 11pm. Driving through Pennsylvania was boring, it was mostly trees and big farm lands. Soon, they would be in Ohio. He definately wanted to pull over and sleep before then. He looked behind him before putting his eyes back on the road. Pheobe and Gerald were laying on the bed in the back bedroom. They had left the door cracked, you could see how tired they must've been. Helga had taken up the whole couch, but was awake. She was writing in a little pink notebook, which looked vaguely familiar. She had been writting for hours not saying a word to pretty much anyone. Helga was very interesting to Arnold. She was still sarcastic and somewhat mean to him, but her mean nicknames had slowed. Her face no longer carried a scowl around, instead her eyes seemed empty or maybe far away. Arnold wasn't sure, but it looked like life had already taken a toll on Helga before it should've. He wanted to talk to her, make some kind of small talk instead of driving in silence.

"Hey Helga?"

She looked up at him not saying anything.

"Think you could take the wheel? I have to go to the bathroom." Arnold chuckled at the end of his sentence..

Helga set down her things and took Arnold's spot.

"All you really have to do is keep the wheel straight and you should be fine."

She opened her mouth to say something sarcastic but stopped. "Okay."

Arnold went to the bathroom and started to do his thing. This was not good. What did Arnold get into. Pheobe and Gerald obviously planned to spend the rest of thier time together. He was stuck with Helga. The 22 year old woman who was either rooten or completely silent. Things had to get better between them. If this was the person he was going to be with until the end, he had to try harder. And so did she.

He washed his hands and came out. Helga was still driving, but she had turned on the radio.

"Scientists have now pin pointed where exactly Dorothy would hit planet Earth. They forsee it plunging into the Atlantic just a few hundred miles west of Great Britain. They are not sure how big of a tsnami it will cause, but are expecting the waves to cover all of Hawaii, Japan, and almost 100% of the world's islands. Coastal areas all around the world will expect major flooding. Florida will be wiped out and much of the east coast."

Arnodl gulped. Hillwood was right on the east coast, it being suburbia of NYC. Thier homes would be gone afterall.

"They expect the waves to creep up to parts of Kentucky, Tennesse, and Arkansas. The southern gulf lands south of that will be wiped out, including much of Texas. California should expect much flooding, along with Oregon and Washington. They are thinking the waves on the west coast will possibly reach to Las Vegas. Other than that, they are pretty usure. For now we will be bringing you alllll the greatest rock hits, it's 101.3 Here's Welcome to Jungle, Guns N Roses."

The guitar solo started to play and Arnold sat beside Helga.

"They didn't say anything about Denver."

"Huh?" Arnold looked at her.

Helga rolled her eyes. "Denver. It's right where the Rockies start right in the middle of the country. Do you think we'll be safe there?"

Arnold shrugged. "I don't know, but we could always try."

It was an awkward silence, but Helga was surprisingly good at driving the R.V.

"Listen, Arnold..." Helga started. "I wanna try and...be nice to you and all..." She was having a hard time saying what she had to say. "I mean, with the world ending and all." She nervously laughed.

Arnold smiled. This was new. He never knew Helga was capable. "Of course Helga, that's all I ever wanted too. Ever since pre-school."

Helga laughed. "Yeah, I was SO bad to you back then huh?"

"Back then? You still are!"

Helga playfully shoved him, blushing while doing it. Arnold laughed. "You used to put glue on my seat and throw feathers on my butt! I don't know how many spitballs I had to wash out of my hair!"

Helga laughed. "Yeah, feathers on the butt was a pretty good idea, you must admit."

"Maybe if you're a bird, feathers on the butt aren't so bad."

Helga smiled but didn't say anything back.

Arnold sighed. There she goes again, stopping him with her silence. What was it going to take for her to open up and trust him?

"I can't believe it's all going to be over in less than a month." Arnold said nervously.

"Yeah..We were bound to end sooner or later. Just didn't think it would be in my lifetime." Helga responded. "I wonder what the world is going to be like after?"

Arnold thought about it and pictured just a molten ball of lava and rock. Something that wasn't going to be suitable for life for hundreds of years. That was to depressing to share so all he did was shrug.

"Do you want me to take the wheel?" Arnold asked.

She shook her head. "No, all I've been doing is writing. I need to be moving and doing things."

"What are you writing?" Arnold took a dive.

She looked at him for a moment with her large brown eyes, it felt like she could see through him.

"Well, I'm a writer." She said flatly.

"I figured. All those writing works you aced through school. What else could you have done?"

"Well, I could've been the hier to the Big Bob's Furniture emporium." She laughed shortly. "That wasn't for me. So I wrote."

"Have you been published?"

That struck a nerve in her heart. "No." And she never will.

"Oh." Arnold paused. This was a sensitive subject, and he had to change it. "Where would you like to visit before you go, Helga?"

"I wanted to see Paris..but it was destroyed by asteriods. I guess now, I would like to see the Pacific Ocean. Go to California and just enjoy the waves. Before it's underwater."

Arnold smiled. "I promise I'll take you before it's underwater."

Helga's heart pounded in her chest, but her words said something different. "Don't make promises you can't keep."

"I'm not."

They continued to make small talk a little more, but soon Arnold made a point to tell Helga to pull over. It was rural PA and they were safe. Helga took a step outside to scout the area, then came back in shortly. Since Gerald and Phoebe had the back room tonight, the only bed left was the one above the driver and passenger seat. They both seemed to look up at it at the same time, then looked at each other. Arnold laughed, rubbing the back of his head.

"I'll take the couch, Helga."

She shook her head. "You can have the bed. We only have a couple nights left for sleeping. You might as well enjoy it."

"If you put it that way, then you should definately take the bad."

"Arnold, take the bed."

"Helga, I don't think so."

"Damn it, Arnold!"

"No, Helga."

Helga rubbed her face in her hands. "Okay, we aren't going anywhere like this." She paused. What she was about to suggest was one of her wildest dreams, so she had to be careful not to sound like she wanted it. "We're going to have to share the bed!" She said rolling her eyes.

Arnold looked at Helga. He hadn't shared a bed with another woman, other than Emily, in along time. I mean, it's not like they were going to do anything. They were just sharing a bed. Besides, after what happened to him today, maybe sleeping next to someone wasn't a bad idea.

"Okay, Helga."

She climbed up top and Arnold followed her. Once up there, they sat there looking at each other. Arnold suddenly started to laugh. His laugh got harder and harder.

"What's so funny?" Helga gave him a confused look.

His laughing made it impossible to speak. Helga picked a pillow and smashed his face with it. "What's so funny, you weirdo!"

"I just...I just didn't think I'd ever be sharing a bed with Helga Pataki!" He said through his laughs.

She frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Seeing her face, his laughing slowed. "Nothing, I just-I mean-"

"Goodnight jerk." She said flatly and turned over to look out the window that was just above the windshield.

Ouch. Maybe he should think before he spoke and laugh in her face. Damn, and it was just getting to good between them.

"I'm sorry, Helga, I didn't mean it like th-"

"Goodnight!"

He looked at her back as he laid next to her, making sure that he wasn't touching her. He was afraid that she would shove him him off the bed, crashing him onto the floor below.

"Goodnight, Helga.." He whispered, then drifted off.

_*THE NEXT MORNING*_

The sun was bright, it hit Helga's lids making them flutter open. She turned over to get out of the light, then it hit her. She was still in bed with Arnold. And there was his sleeping face inches from hers. She held her breath until she knew for sure he was still sleeping. Arnold's face was so handsome, he had grown into the shape of his head. His smell filled her nose, which made her want to get closer to him. She could feel his body heat, which is what probably kept her warm through out the night. It took the end of the world to get in bed with Arnold.

Helga smiled. She had an urge to run her hand through his hair. Should she? She had little time for hands to be running through hair. He may not even wake up.

She slowly brought her hand across the bed. She paused when her hand was in between thier faces just make sure he wasn't going to wake. She raised her hand to touch him, but then lowered it. She couldn't do it, she was too nervous. Instead, she gently touched his face. It was enough to cause him to stir and have his eyes open.

This scared Helga, causing her to shoot up hitting her head on the low ceiling.

"Ow!" She exclaimed rubbing where she hit herself.

Arnold smiled, he had caught her staring at him. It was flattering. "Good morning, Helga."

"Yeah yeah." She grumbled still rubbing her head.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked her.

"Next to you with your loud snoring, I don't know who would!"

Arnold gave her a weird look. "I snore?" He asked.

"Like a train." Helga lied. Arnold didn't snore. "Now let me off this bed! I gotta pee!"

Arnold moved out of the way and Helga rushed down the ladder. Maybe she hadn't frogave him from last night. Last night...it was a new day. Which meant they were closer to Dorothy. Twenty-three days closer to be exact. Arnold jumped down from the high bed and went to the kitchen sink. He turned on the faucet to splash water in his face. It was nice sleeping next to Helga. Maybe he just felt lonely. But then again, who didn't right now?

He stopped. Maybe that's whats going on in Helga's head. Maybe she's feeling what the whole world is feeling right now. He had a urge to help her, his childhood friend. Just then he heard the toilet flush and the faucets start running. It's not like he hated Helga. She was nice when she wanted to be, and she was cute.

_Cute?_

When did Helga Pataki become cute? It wasn't highschool, she had the goth thing going on. He saw her on the street corner a couple months back. She was cute then...Maybe he was attracted to Helga. Or was it because he was just limited at this point?

Helga came out of the bathroom. "I guess sleeping beauty and price charming are still sleeping." She said motioning to Pheobe and Gerald.

"Yeah, I guess they are. We should probably find some food, this R.V. didn't come stocked." Arnold said trying to think where they would get food. Maybe grocery store would still be open?

"Yeah." She rubbed her belly. "Food sounds great. Let's go rob some deli out on these back roads!" Helga sounded entusiatic, and some what evil talking about robbing a deli. "We passed one last night when I was drving. We just have to back track a little bit."

Arnold nodded. It would be nice to have food here and ready when Gerald and Pheobe wake up. He didn;t like the idea very much, but they took this R.V. didn't they? Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Arnold hopped in the driver seat and began to back track as Helga sat next to him fidgeting with the radio.

"I tired of hearing all these depressing news alerts. I wanna hear good music." Helga said as if she was talking to herself.

Soon after, they got to the deli. It had dark window and they weren't sure it was open. If not, they would just break in. They walked out of the R.V. and walked to the door. Surprisingly it was unlocked. Helga stepped in then Arnold.

"STOP!"

Suddenly they both froze. A gun was pointed right at them. Helga and Arnold both stopped with thier hands up.

"Shit!" Helga exclaimed.

"Shut up blondie! Before a blow your brains out!" He pointed the gun directly at her. Helga gulpped.

The man had the same idea as them, but a more violent one. There was darker man behind the counter with his hands up as well. It was just the four of them in the store. The gunman kept having to point at Arnold and Helga, then turn to the man behind the counter. He was back and forth with the gun on them.

"EVERYONE DOWN!" The gunman yelled at the three of them. Arnold slowly crept down, not knowing what to do. His mind was blank. But Helga had a plan.

The man behind the counter was suddenly shouting at him in another language, not wanting to go down on the floor. He wasn't giving up without a fight. So the gunman's back was turned to her for a second. She took this oppurtunity to kick a shelve down as hard as she could, the force was hard enough to knock the gunman down on his stomach. She quickly moved on her feet and stomp on the hand that held the gun. The gunman yelped in pain and she took the gun from him and quickly pointed it at the gunman who was still on the floor.

"Don't move, scum bag!" She shouted down at him.

Arnold watch it all, which seemed to happen in a blink of an eye. So fast, his hands were still up like he was still being held up.

"Arnold! Move!"

Arnold stared at Helga as if she was speaking a foriegn lanuage. _What?_

"Arnold!" She pleaded.

His nerves seem to work all together all of a sudden. The man behind the counter was cheering and jumping up in down. He was shouting in his native language. He went over to him and asked for duct tape, hoping he would understand. The man nodded happily and gave him some. Arnold quickly went over to the gunman and started taping him to the shelf that still laid a top of him. He taped his arms and hands, then taped his head to the shelf. For extra messure, he taped his mouth shut.

After he was done, Arnold and Helga smiled at each other. What a good team they made. Helga turned to the man.

"May we have some food?"

"Yes! Yes! Have as much as you want! Go! Go!" The guy smiled at them and waved them toward the contents of the store.

They filled thier hands with as much water and foor they could. They grab dairy and meats. Helga was at the back cooler and forgot that Pennslyvannia sold beer and wine at delis. She grabbed a couple six packs and wine bottles. They both stuffed thier pockets with granola bars and 99 cent bags of chips. On thier way out, they waved good bye to the store owner. Helga kicked the gunman just before they left just to make herself feel better. He groaned and she cursed at him. They walked into thier R.V. and put the things away. After it was all said and done, they stood looking at each other, smiling.

"Helga! I didn't know you could do that!" Arnold exclaimed. "That was so awesome! You just saved us all!"

"I know!" Helga exclaimed right there with him.

He ran up to her and hugged her. She was caught by surprise at first, then squeezed him back. They jumped up and down, expressing thier happiness for lucky they just were.

"And look what I still have!" Helga pulled away and pulled something out of her back pocket. It was the gun that she stole from the gunman.

"Helga, you took the gun?" Arnold questioned.

"Doi! Of course! What if something like this happens again? We'll be protected next time." She argued.

He looked nervously at the gun she held in her hand. "I guess you're right. Let's just put it somewhere safe, okay."

Helga nodded, putting it under the kitchen sink.

"We have to tell Gerald and Pheobe what just happened." Arnold said making his way toward the back bedroom.

He knocked on the door, a couple times. "Gerald! Something crazy just happened. I'm coming in, okay!" He waited a couple seconds to open the door to walk in.

They were gone.


	5. Lake Shores

Maybe they had walked outside. Maybe they were wondering around the deli. Maybe someone was mugging them. Maybe they were in trouble.

The thoughts going through Helga's head were horrific. She knew exactly how terrible the world could be. She felt like she was going to fall apart infont of the giant R.V.

"Gerald!" Arnold called out into the wilderness.

"Fuck!" Helga cursed, her knees falling to the ground. "Not Pheobe!" She cried into her hands.

Arnold looked over and saw how Helga was handling it. He rushed over to her and bent down at her level. "Helga."

She looked up at him almost crying. Arnold was a bit taken back. For being such a strong woman and having a hard exterior, her face was so soft right now. Her big eyes looked at him, pleading him for help. "Helga," He repeated. "We'll find them. Believe me." He looked at her, wanting her to trust him.

She nodded.

"I think maybe we should go back to where we parked last night, where we slept." He told her.

She nodded again. They went into the R.V., and Arnold jumped into the driver seat. "Hurry Arnold." Helga begged.

More sooner than later, they pulled up to the spot where they were. And there they were, but something was wrong. Pheobe was hurt.

"Oh god." Helga murmured as she got out fo the R.V. before Arnold pulled to a stop. "Pheobe!"

"I'm okay." She said smiling. Her leg was wrapped in Gerald's shirt.

"No! You're clearly not! What happened?" Helga asked.

"Well," Gerald started. "We got up early to go look for food, so we left to go look around and-"

"You just left?!" Helga exploded. "You didn't even leave a note! Crimney! What if cannibals snatched you and chopped you up into little pieces and made stew out of you?!"

Gerald looked at Arnold, who was obviously the more same one. "And," He started back up again. "Pheobe had notcied some berries."

"Some wild rasberries that are commonly grown up here." Pheobe chimmed in.

"Yeah, but they were off a little on some ledge. Pheobe thought she could get them..." Gerald looked down. He obviously felt bad.

"I slipped." Pheobe finished. "My leg is cut up pretty bad."

"Let me see." Arnold chimmed in, knowing he went to med school.

She had cuts from her upper thigh to her ankle. He had to bring her inside to clean her up. "Can you walk?" He asked her.

"I think so, but it hurts."

He nodded and helped her limp into the R.V. Gerald and Helga followed.

"Great going, Geraldo!" Helga started once Arnold got Pheobe into the bathroom.

"What?"

"This is all your fault!" She pointed at him. "How could you let Pheobe go out onto a ledge by herself?!"

"Hey, this isn't my fault! We were just looking for food. She said she could do it!" His voice was getting as loud as hers.

"What a great idea that was, you idiot! A real man would have gotten them instead of making her! And she's hurt and it's all because of you!"

"Don't you think I feel bad!?"

"Hey!" Arnold came out fo the bathroom. "This was no one's fault, okay?"

Arnold's agressiveness surpirsed Helga.

"So stop it! Arguing won't help anything!" Arnold told them, but was more looking at Helga. "Okay?"

She nodded. He was right.

"Helga is right, thought, Gerald. Next time anyone leaves, we need to leave a note or something. Just to make sure." Arnold explained. This time, Gerald nodded.

Arnold returned to the bathroom. Helga and Gerald sat in silent until they were finished. Pheobe limped out of the bathroom and sat on the couch. Arnold looked at his former classmates. Gerald in the passenger seat, Helga at the kitchen table, and Pheobe on the couch.

"Helga and I were listening to the radio last night, and the comet looks like it's going to hit the Atlantic Ocean. We figured that Denver might be safe, considering it's the mile high city."

"Technically, it wanted to be safe. You have to go higher than that." Pheobe explained. "The highest mountain peaks are mostly in Alaska. However, the highest mountain in Colorado is Mount Elbert, almost three miles high. If you really wanted to be safe, you could go to Mount McKinley is Alaska. That one is over four miles high!" She was getting excited.

"Alaska?" Arnold asked. It would definately take over three days to drive to Alaska. "Isn't that kinda near the coast line? Would that matter?"

Pheobe thought for a second. "Being away from the coastline is important. Colorado is miles inland. We could try."

"Okay, Mount Elbert it is!" Gerald jumped up running to the driver seat. He was about to start the R.V. "Where is Mt. Elbert again?"

Everyone groaned.

_*5:00 PM*_

Gerald had been driving for a little while, they were about two hours east of Chicago. Pheobe had kept him company most of the way, sitting next to him with her leg still wrapped. Helga had stay at the kitchen table, mostly writting again. Only looking up at Arnold a couple times. He would catch her a few times, then she would immediatly look down like she wasn't looking at him at all. But he caught her, he noticed. It was odd, and familiar. She did this growing up, but this time he had no fear. He wasn't afraid of Helga Pataki anymore. And it was weird.

Arnold was mostly listening to the radio, chipping in on Gerald's and Pheobe's conversation every once and a while. The radio was going on about how tomorrow was the last day for flights. They would stop public transportation all around the world, and that included airplanes. If you needed to go somewhere, tomorrow was the day to do it.

_There goes Paris._ Helga thought. She stopped writting and looked out the window. Arnold noticed her change in expressions. She had a rough morning and Arnold wanted to cheer her up or try and make it up to her for atleast yelling at her earlier.

"Hey, you want some of the wine we got or maybe some beer?" He asked her, joining her at the kitchen table right across from her.

She looked at him, her body a little stiff from him getting close to her. "Uh, yeah, I'll take a beer." He smiled. He got up and get her a beer, and one for him as well. She opened her Bud and was about to cheers him.

"What are we cheersing to?" She asked him.

He thought for a moment. "Our last few days together." He smiled at her.

She blushed as she cheersed him. The first sip was nice and cold, running down her throat. Refreshing.

The first beer went down fast as they made small talk about the fiasco early. The second beer had opened them up a little more as they began talking about thier life dreams. The third and forth beers resulted into talking about thier love lives.

"Me?" Helga's face was red from her drinking. Arnold had just asked her if she ever dated in highschool.

"Yeah." Arnold's face was just as red. He wasn't much of a drinker. "I never really saw you with a boyfriend."

"Yeah, 'cause all the guys who wanted to date me were either juggalo freaks or emo!" She told him. "God, highschool was awful." She said trying to forget.

"It wasn't THAT bad."

Helga rolled her eyes. "Maybe for you, Mr. Popular. You were on the swim team!" Her mind began to wonder on how good Arnold actual looked in his swimsuit. She wondered if he still had that swimmer's body.

"I wasn't that popular." Arnold defended.

"Yeah right, you always had a girlfriend."

Helga was right. Arnold dated two girls in highschool, Tiffanney and Rachel, both relationships were pretty long. "If someone did like you, they never had a chance. Not with Tiffanney, she always had an eye on you." Helga continued. "And Rachel! She never trusted you, always wondering where you were. Who you were with."

Arnold was puzzled. "Helga, how do you know all this? We barely talked to each other back then."

Helga froze. "Uh-Anyone could n-notice, Arnold! Jeez, your girlfriend's craved attention!" She defended herself.

She was right, both of them wanted so much attention. They would always start some kind of drama, get the whole school in on it. They loved to gossip. But he liked the fact they kept him on his toes. Maybe he liked the crazy.

"Yeah, they were wild." He agreed. Helga let out a sigh, the spotlight was off her. "Didn't you want to date anyone?" He asked her.

"Well," She rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, but the guy I liked...there was no chance he could ever like me." She said.

"Why say that, Helga? You're great! Sure you may be brash, but you keep people on thier toes. And some people like that." Arnold told her.

"Yeah?" She asked

"Yeah, I mean, I like to be kept on my toes." He inched closer to her, leaning across the table.

"Yeah?" She inched closer as well.

"Yeah."

Thier faces were getting closer and closer. They had no idea what they were doing, but they knew they were practically breathing the same air. They both had even closer thier eyes.

"Hey guys, look! It's Lake Erie!" Gerald said, not noticing what they were about to do.

Both of them opened thier eyes and shot back, both red from alcohol and embarrassment. "Pull over!" Helga exclaimed.

"Uh, okay?" Gerald said in almost a question and did what he was told.

Helga ran out as soon as the R.V. pulled to a stop. She needed air. She was just about to kiss Arnold. Sure, she had done it before. But now, they were adults with experience. They could now do things to follow up after the kiss.

It was windy but a cool summer evening. The sun was soon setting. The sky was fading to colors of blue, purple, pink and orange. The water reflected the colors as if it was on fire. It was beautiful and took Helga's breath away. She ran down to the shore from the highway. Soon her feet hit sand. She took them off and ran toward the water, not knowing she was being followed.

"Helga!"

She turned around. Arnold had followed her down to the shore.

"Helga." He had caught up to her, breathing hard. "Helga, I'm sorry. Back there, I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay Arnold." She told him.

He looked at her, her skin glowed from the sunlight. Her hair showed it lenght in the wind, and so did her legs. Arnold thought she was beautiful. Maybe her did mean to try and kiss her.

"Lets go back." She said walking back to the R.V. He turned and looked at the water one last time. He had never seen one of the Great Lakes before. He turned and followed Helga back.

"You guys okay?" Gerald asked when they got back in

They smiled at each other. "Yeah, we're good Gerald. You can go now." Arnold told him.

Gerald got back onto the highway. Helga had made her way to the fridge and grabbed her fifth beer. She offered on to Arnold but her declined, already feeling the four he drank earlier. They sat back down on the table, looking across from each other. They immediatly began laughing.

"What was that?" Arnold asked.

"You tried kissing me!" She blamed him.

"I guess I did." He confessed. "But you didn't try and stop me either. I think you wanted to kiss me."

"I did not. I only felt bad for you, with your girlfriend dead and all." Opps, diarrhea of the mouth. The struck a nerve with Arnold.

"Oh, sorry, Arnold. I didn't mean to say that." She apologized.

He looked at her and saw that she meant it. It wasn't just one of her insults. She had told him sorry, which she rarely did. "It's okay, Helga. She wasn't as strong as you."

She blushed drinking her beer. Arnold was getting under her skin, in good and bad ways. She wanted him now. Maybe it was the beer, but she knew she wanted it. Or atleast a kiss. Maybe it was the beer, but she had the balls.

She leaned forward and gave him a long peck on the mouth. She closer her eyes, with his closing shortly after. She backed up from him and check his facial expression.

"Man, I should have you feel bad for me more often." He joked and she laughed.

"Don't get used to it, football head."

Football head. She hadn't called him that in ages. It no longer seemed to offended him, but more like a playful nickname.

"Hey guys, we have company." Gerald said suddenly.

They heard sirens and realized they were getting pulled over. Gerald got to the side of the road and parked. Since his window was too high, they decided to get out of the R.V. all together. Everyone except for Pheobe. The officer pulled up behind them and had gotten out of his cop car.

"Hey officer." Arnold greeted.

Not wanting to be friendly, the cop ignored him. "Who's driving?" He asked the group.

"I was, sir." Gerald spoke up.

"License and registration." He asked Gerald.

Gerald gave him his license, but this wasn't thier R.V., they had no proof of registration. "Registration?" He asked again.

"You see officer," Helga spook up. "We were at this Rent-A-Car and this nice young man let us borrow this wonderful R.V. that we've been using to get around, so we do not have proof of registration. Do you think, perhaps, due to the untimely circumstances," She pointed up at the sky, motioning toward Dorothy. "Can you find it somewhere in your heart to let us go?"

He paused for a moment. "Ma'am, have you been drinking?"

She frowned. "Yes, but what does that have to do with-"

"So, what you're telling me is that you have no registration for this R.V.?" He cut her off.

The group nodded.

"I'm gonna have to take you down to the station."

_*SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE CHICAGO*_

"You can't keep us in here, you know!" Arnold yelled. His hands on the bars that kept him in the jail cell.

They put Gerald and Arnold in one cell, and they put Pheobe and Helga in another. They were told thier R.V. was impounded, which they lost hope on getting it back.

"Hey! Are you listening!?" Arnold yelled. "You can't keep us in here!"

Helga watched Arnold struggle with being in jail. Her cell was adjacent to thiers, so she could definately see them. She knew they had to get out, but how? What could she do?

"Heeelllllooooo?" Arnold yelled more, until the officer who arrested them came.

They were in some small town, in some little county jail. All the officers seemed to leave, except for this one guy. This guy, who thought he could just keep people in jail beyond his power.

"Shut up, you." The cop told him.

"Hey, no need to be harsh." Helga called out.

Her body language was that which Arnold never seen before. She was being alluring. She took her tank strap and slid it down her shoulder to show bare skin. Her voice sounded innocent and seductive.

"Why don't you come over here and show me what a real cop does." She said not pulling away from eye contact.

Arnold's jaw dropped. What was she doing? What in the hell was she doing?!

The cop fell for it and walked over to her bars of her cell. "You're a pretty little thing."

She smiled. "I have more pretty things if you wanna see them. All you gotta do is open this cell." She whispered, dragging her hands slowly all over her body.

Arnold was confused and slightly turned on. Gerald seemed to be in shock, but Pheobe knew. Helga was beautiful and knew how to use her body to her advantage. The cop watched her touch herself over her clothes, and licked his lips. He couldn't take it anymore. What the hell, the world was ending. What stopped him?

He fidgeted trying to get the cell doors unlocked. He finally got it open and quickly went over to Helga. Once he tried kissing her, she quickly kicked him right into the balls. He fell fast, holding himself. She grabbed the cuffs out of his back pocket, cuffing him to the bars. She grabbed the keys out of his hands and went to unlock Arnold's and Gerald's cell. She went back over to the cop, still holding his crotch in pain.

"Hey, you disgusting pig, where did they impound our R.V.? Or I won't give you the keys and I'll let you stave here untill the comet crushes your ass!" Helga asked the guy.

"Ch..o" He mummbled.

"What?" Helga kicked him.

"Helga!" Pheobe pleaded. She didn't want her to get anymore violent.

"Chicago!" He yelped. "Little Moe's Tow! Right off the highway, you can't miss it!"

"Good." She threw the keys just inches out of his reach. "Come on guys, let's go get our R.V. back!"


	6. Ramming Gates and Applying Lotion

_*LITTLE MOE'S TOW*_

It was dark, probably after midnight. The tow yard was literally in the middle of nowhere. You could see the city lights light up the sky in the distance, but you couldn't see Chicago itself. To walk here from the police station probably took almost an hour. When the got there, the place was definately closed, and the gate was locked with a chain. To help, there was barbed wire across the top.

"How do you think we should get in?" Gerald asked looking up at the gate as if were Mount Everest.

"We dig, doi." Helga said as a matter of factly.

All four of them got down onthier knees and began grabbing dirt to make a hole. Thier knees were dirty and dirt was getting under thier fingernails. In the end, they ended up making a small enough hole to get someone underneath. Arnold's head was a bit to wide, and so was Gerald. It was really up to one of the girls to crawl under.

They all got off the grond and amired thier hole they vigorously dug. "Well, our R.V. isn't going to drive itself over." Helga volunteered herself and crawled under the gate.

Arnold pressed his face against the gate. "Helga, just get the R.V. and get out. It's past midnight and who knows what creeps are out."

"Be careful Helga." Pheobe chipped.

Helga nodded to both, then made her way into the gravyard of mistreated and left behind cars and trucks. The place wasn't very big and it was pretty dark. Helga was thinking maybe she shouldn't have come in here by herself. Just then, she saw a small light through some car window. It was maybe a desk light or something dim like that. She slowly and quietly made her way through following the light. She came upon a small hut, a little building. There was no one inside but the light was on and the door was open. She only knew this because she could see through a small window.

"That's probably where they have all the keys.." She whispered crouching beneath the window. "I don't see anyone, I should just be really fast." She got down on her knees once more and crawled in the dirt around the hut to get to the door. Before she even got to the door, a strange but strong smell hit her nose.

"Ugh, what is that-" Then a small scream escaped her mouth. She quickly covered her mouth to make sure no other noises escaped. She fell back on her butt and kicked her feet to get away.

There was a body. A man, probably late 30's. He laid there on the ground face up. There was blood everywhere, mostly around his face. His body had a hole in it's side and there was an overflow of soft tissue and other things that made Helga queasy. There was smears on the desk and drawers of blood. One of the drawers were open, there were keys. But Helga's eyes were stuck on the dead mutilated man infront of her. It looked like he had been stabbed, murdered. She wanted to get out of there. The fact that someone was murdered scared the hell out of her.

_What if they are still here?_

She stopped in her thoughts. The body smelled, maybe he had been dead for a while. Maybe whoever did this to him was long gone. Helga slowly got back to the crawling postion and got a little closer to him. She notcied his wallet was strune about. She picked it up, immediatly getting blood on her hand.

"Ew." She wiped it on the wall and opened his wallet carefully. _Frank Jubinski._ He's name was Frank, maybe jewish or polish? There was a picture or a lady, she was pretty but older. Long brown hair and a beautiful smile.

Helga took the picture but put the wallet back. She held her breath and leaned over Frank's body to reach into the drawer. She knew what the keys looked like. On the keychain was a white rubber thing hooked on the key link.

There wasn't that many keys, so finding thiers was very easy. She grabbed it and bolted out of the death hut. When she came in earlier, she didn't notice the R.V. anywhere, but as she made her way towards the back of the lot, she found it. It was stuck between a truck and a small car infront of it. Helga frowned. How was she supposed to get it out of here? She climbed into the R.V. and turned it on. She knew she had to force her way out.

She threw it in drive and stepped on the gas. She slammed into the mini car infront of her. She moved it, but not enough. She threw it in reverse, backed up, and rammed it again. It worked. She made a sharp right and made her way to the gate. She stuck her head out the window.

"Get out of the way! I'm gonna ram it!" She screamed.

They all scrambled out of the way as Helga broke threw the gate. She made a left and slammed on the brakes. Put it in park and jumped out to greet everyone.

"Yay, Helga!" Pheobe cheered giving her a hug. She ran in and Gerald followed her.

"Helga, that was great. You're amazing." He told her.

She blushed looking down at the ground. "Yeah yeah.." She brushed it off.

He touched her arm. "No, really, you are very brave." She looked up at him wanting to kiss him again.

"Thanks Arnold."

_*LATER*_

The had found a national park, the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, and decided to park there for the night since they had been up so late. This time around, Gerald and Pheobe took the bed above the driver seat and gave Arnold and Helga the bedroom in the back.

Helga had said she dirty, physically and mentaly, and went to take a shower. Arnold sat on the bed listening to the water run in the bathroom.

Helga was more and more intriguing Arnold. She was exciting and ballsy, and did things Arnold wouldn't think of doing. And she had kissed him earlier. It was small and hard, but Arnold couldn't get it off his mind. It wasn't like Emily's who had soft, feminine kisses. Helga's kiss demanded you to kiss her back, it had an exoctic force to it.

Everything that she did excited Arnold. And he wanted more. He had to, the world was ending. The water had stopped running and he could hear her get out. He had put on some pj pants and took off his shirt in hopes to excite Helga and as she did to him. Arnold worked out on college, not a work out junkie, but kept his self in shape. He knew that even though he had a weird shaped head, his chest did not.

She came out and softly knocked on the door.

"Come in." Arnold called.

She stepped in wearing her towel. He wet hair cascaded down in blonde waves, partly covering her eye.

"Sorry." She mummered, embarrassed. "I left my clothes in here."

"It's okay." He watched her walk across the room in her white towel. "It's been a while since I've seen a woman in a towel, so I don't mind." He tried to make light of the situation.

She laughed. "You're such a guy."

"I hope so, or I'd be a very weird girl."

She laughed harded and ended up forgetting how embarrassed she was. She sat on the foot of the bed and pulled out lotion and began moisterizing herself. "You are already weird. Remember when you tried to get Stoop Kid off his stoop and suceeded? That was weird."

Arnold watched Helga rub lotion all over herself. She did her neck and then to her shoulders. Arnold was getting slowly aroused, and knew it wasn't good. Helga then brought her legs up on the bed, slowly rubbing the bottom making her way up. Arnold gulped, so loud he thought she heard.

"And do you remember when-" Helga went on talking about another weird thing Arnold did in his childhood, but her words didn't make his ears. He was so fixaited on Helga rubbing her naked body. Her legs were so long, it seemed like it would take years to lotion in all. Helga was working her thighs, hiking her towel up so high, he could swear he was looking at her butt cheek. She turned to him, she seemed to be asking a question.

"Right, Arnold?"

His focus was back up at her face. "Uh..yeahhh."

She frowned. "Earth to Arnold! Hello, are you listening?"

"Y-Yeah. I am."

"Hmm, what did I say then?"

"..."

"I'm waiting."

"..."

"Arnold!" She shoved him, maybe to hard. He was suprised at her sudden movement and wasn't ready for it. He fell back, revealing what he was trying to keep secret. He 'friend' was very up and awake. He quickly covered it with a pillow. He face had turned red. Helga backed away from him with her mouth gaping open.

"Was that-?" She stopped.

"Yeah, sorry, it's just that..well, there you are in a towel! Putting lotion on!" His toned sounded angry, but he really wasn't. Just mad at himself.

She got up quickly and got her clothes. "Maybe I should sleep out here for tonight." She left the room quickly.

"No, Helga, wait-" But she closed the door before he could say anything else. "Great, now she probably thinks I'm a creep."

He layed back and looked up at the ceiling.

"Why must I be such a perv?"

**A/N: Sorry this was so short. The next chapter will be double! I have good ideas coming!**


	7. Bennigan's

The next morning the gang was almost in Iowa. The drive from Chicago was very boring. Helga looked out the window only to see empty fields and farms of corn and wheat. Arnold and Gerald were up front while Pheobe was cooking breakfast. The air smelled of bacon and it reminded Helga of Sunday mornings. She pulled out the picture she took from the dead man last night. The picture sadden Helga for some reason. She kind of wished she could meet this lady. Something about her, her aura, was oddly familiar. She leaned the picture against the window so she could look at it as she was looking out.

"Helga, how would you like your eggs?" Pheobe asked her.

"Scrambled. Man 'em dry." Helga told her.

"Scrambling." Pheobe said cheeringly.

Helga looked at the boys up front. They were talking about something or another. Helga got up from the table and went over to Pheobe.

"So, I was with...icecream last night."

Pheobe looked up from her cooking. "Yes Helga?"

"And well, the icecream was...hard." Helga began. "I came out of the bathroom last night and sat on the bed and he, i mean, it got excited."

Pheobe laughed. "The icecream got excited?"

"You know what I mean!" She had gotten loud, but then came back down on a quieter level. "I shoved him and there it was, Pheobe! It was like, 'Hey, what's up Helga? I'm Arnold's penis.'!" Helga whispered loudly.

"Just all of a sudden?" Pheobe asked.

"Well, I dunno! I had just gotten out of the shower and-"

"Shower?" Pheobe cut her off. "You were still wet?"

"Yeah, but what does that have to-"

"And were you still in a towel?"

"Yeah, duh, Pheebs, I just said I-" Then it finally hit Helga.

"It seems like the icecream like what it saw." Pheobe smiled up at her.

"Really? You think so?" Helga asked.

"Maybe you should show him more of your...personality, Helga." Pheobe told her winking.

Helga plopped down on the couch behind her. Arnold had gotten excited for her? She had to make sure. She had to do a test.

_*MID AFTERNOON*_

A couple hours into Iowa and a couple of hours after breakfast, Helga was more bored than what she was before. Gerald and Arnold had switched postions after breakfast and now Gerald was drving. Pheobe was up there with him, specifically so Helga could have her alone time with Arnold. But she was failing, epicly. They ended up playing War with a deck of cards.

"Looks like you have all the cards, Helga. You won." Arnold said from across the table.

"Yippie." She said sarcastically. "This is lame, Arnold. Lets do something exciting!" Helga said with much emotion. Arnold was taken back. "Uh..okay."

Helga got up form the table and brought over a bottle. "We're gonna do shots of whiskey."

Arnold rubbed the back of his head. "I dunno, Helga. That's a bit strong."

"What are ya, a baby?" She tried taunting him.

"No, it's just that..."Arnold stopped. He didn't really have an excuse. The world was ending. What was really stopping him? What was stopping him from doing anything? "Okay, Helga, what do you have in mind?"

"Truth or lie. I'm going to say something, you tell me if I'm lying or telling the truth. If you're wrong, you drink. If you're right, I drink."

Easy rules, Arnold understood them. "Okay, I'll go first." He said. "I just got a resident job at the hospital."

"Lie." Helga snorted. "You're only an intern."

_Damn, how did she know?_

Arnold took his first shot and it burned like hell. His eyes began to water and he wanted to gag it up. Helga got up to hand him some water to chase it down with.

"Thanks." He thanked her and he gulped it down.

"Now that you're not dying anymore, I'll go. I didn't show up to Olga's wedding."

This was a hard one for Arnold. He knew she hated her sister, but enough to miss her wedding. "Lie." Arnold said slowly.

"Damn." Helga cursed. He was right, she was forced to be a bridesmaid.

"I stopped liking Lila after middle school." Arnold said.

"That's true. I actually think she became obsessed with you after you started not to like her." Helga said smiling.

Arnold took another shot. He wondered how she knew that too.

"I got a scholarship to a college." Helga said.

"True." Arnold said.

"I got you Arnold! I never got a scholarship." Helga pointed at him. He was forced to take another shot of the hard whiskey. His face was starting to tingle a little.

"You are so smart, Helga. You could've if you wanted to." Arnold told her.

"So I could end up going to school for years just to be right here anyway, I don't think so." Helga retorted.

"Hmmm." Arnold looked down into his empty shot glass.

"It's your turn, Arnold."

"My grandparents died last year."

His statement stopped Helga from blurting out. That was one thing she didn't know. She had no idea when Phil and Gertie left this world. She thought they would live forever, but looking at that now, that was a stupid thought.

"Lie?" Helga questioned.

Arnold shook his head. "Nope, I wish it was a lie."

"I'm sorry, Arnold." She laid her hand on his, and he smiled at her. "Now, it's your turn to take another." He poured her her shot.

This went on for another couple more rounds, until the two were pretty tipsy. Over a half an hour had went by, which was a short time to consume all the liquor they did.

"Okay okay okay, I got one!" Helga said laughing at what Arnold had said before, but was to far in to remember what it was.

"Okay, I'm ready." Arnold slurred as he leaned across the table.

"Okay, I had a huge crush on you when we were kids." Helga said.

"Truth!" Arnold exclaimed.

"What?" Helga blushed. "How did you know?" She asked.

"C'mon Helga, all you did was pick on me! That is a lot of attention, even if it was negitive."

_Deja'vu._

Helga's face got even redder. She didn't say anything, just looked down at the table.

"So? Am I right? I'm right, aren't I?" Arnold asked her laughing. "It's okay, Helga, it's not like you still like me."

Helga continued to not give Arnold eye contact. This was bad.

"Right?" He asked.

Helga finally looked at him, still not talking to him.

"Right, Helga? You don't like me."

"Looks like we both have to take a shot." She said pouring them both one.

So it was a lie. She still liked him. Arnold was happy from this information she had invertly told him. After they took the shot, Helga looked out the window. The was a Bennigan's right at that moment and thier sign said still open even thought the world was ending. Spontaneity came to Helga when she was drunk, so she pounced up.

"Pull over, Gerald! I could totally go for so Bennigan's." She ran up behind him to make sure he heard her demand. "Pull over, pull over!" She shook his shoulders.

"Alright, woman, alright!" Gerald pulled into thier parking lot, which only had a couple cars. They all piled out of the R.V. and walked into the resturant doors.

"Hello!" The host was a young girl, probably thier age. "Welcome to Bennys!" The girl exclaimed hugging them all. "I'm so happy to see you all!"

"Uh, okay." Gerald said noticing that there was something wrong with this girl.

"Would you like to eat?" She asked.

They nodded in unison.

"Follow me!" She said.

"So what made you guys stay open?" Helga asked the brunette.

"Well, we're all like family here and none of us really had anywhere else to go so, yeah! Here we are!"

They past the bar area which was full of Bennigan's employee's drinking and snorting coke off the bar. Drunk Arnold saw this. Sober Arnold would've been uncomfertable, but he just shook it off. The world was ending after all. The host sat them and then sat with them.

"I really like you guys. I mean, really. You guys wanna do some E?" She asked smiling at everyone. Gerald and Pheobe were looking a bit uncomfertable, they shook thier heads.

"What about you blondie?" She asked, talking about Arnold.

"No no no. I'm a doctor." He slurred. But like that had to do with anything.

"You?" She then turned to Helga.

Sober Helga would've said no. Drunk Helga would've said no too. But End of the World Helga? She was fierce. "Okay." She said.

The girl put the pill in her own mouth, which confused Helga. Helga thought she was going to give her the pill. But then the girl leaned forward and began making out with Helga, exchanging the pill via mouth. Arnold and Gerald seemed to be mesmerized by this action. Especially Arnold, who was wasted at this point. He very much enjoyed watching Helga kiss this girl, and in the end, completely forgot why she was kissing her in the first place. The brunette backed up leaving Helga breathless.

"Wow, you're a really great kisser." She said smiling at Helga. She turned to the rest of the table. "I really like you guys." She repeated. "I'm going to go get you some martinis!" She exclamied leaving the table.

"That girl is somethin else." Gerald said.

Pheobe looked over to Helga, frowning. "Helga! Why did you take that? You don't know where it came from."

Helga shrugged. "I don't care anymore, Pheobe."

Pheobe stopped. What was she going to say? Helga was right. She could do what she wanted. Soon, the girl came back with a couple drinks. With her came a man who also wore the Bennigan's uniform. The guy was so intrigued by the shape of Arnold's head. "Whoa man, have you seen your head?" The guys asked touching his head.

Helga started to laugh at the sight of this strange man caressing Arnold's head, pounding down her martini. "Man, that guy is gone!"

"Uh, okay, I think we're good." Arnold said pushing the man back slightly. As he was doing that, the brunette had gotten down on her knees and went under the table.

"Whoa!" Gerald yelled.

The brunette began unbuckling Gerald's pants from under the table. "What's in here?" She said in a sing songy voice.

"Let's get out of here." Pheobe said pulling Gerald towards the exit.

Arnold got up to follow and Helga grabbed on more martini for the road.

"Where are you going?" The girl asked sticking her head out from under the table.

They ran outside, Arnold and Helga laughing harder than they had on the whole trip. They went into the R.V., closing the door behind them.

Helga and Arnold plopped down on the couch. "I can't believe that girl was about to suck you off!" Helga said cracking up.

"Helga!" Pheobe exclaimed.

"Well she was!"

Gerald slightly chuckled which got an evil look from Pheobe. "Hey, don't look at me. It's not like I asked her to." Gerald said in his defense.

"Let's just get driving." Pheobe said sitting next to Gerald in the passenger seat.

_*HALF AN HOUR LATER*_

Arnold, being new to drinking, had passed out on the back bed. Helga, the experienced drinker, was starting to feel the effect of the E pill she took. She had never taken E before, so it began to alarm her.

All of a sudden, everything was brighter. It was like a wave came over her of white. Her pupils had grown two thirds larger. Her whole body began to tingle, a good tingle. And suddenly, she was happy. She was so happy! She wanted to talk. About anything! And she knew who she wanted to talk to.

She bursted into the back bedroom with new energy. She jumped onto the bed, bouncing above Arnold.

"Arnold!" She said jumping.

He began to stir.

"Arnold!" She yelled.

He shot up, think he was at work, sleeping while he was on call. "What? What? Who's coding?"

She laughed as if it was the funniest thing. "Calling Doctor Arnold, Dr. Arnold to the ER." She mimicked a loud speaker.

He rolled his eyes. "What do want, Helga?" He asked, slightly bothered that she woke him up.

"I just wanna talk."

"What?"

"Please, I just want to talk." She sat across from him on the bed indian style. She seemed so eager to share words with him.

"Talk?" This was not the Helga he was used to. There was somethign different. He was still tipsy, but not tispy enough to know he pupils were too large. He thought back to the E pill she took earlier. He rolled his eyes and layed on the bed on his side.

"Helga! Let me sleep." He told her not wanting to deal with a high Helga.

"If you won't talk to me, then touch me." She said.

He opened his eyes wide. Did he hear her right. He sat up and looked back at her. She had her arms crossed, rubbing her arms and shoulders up and down. " Everything feels so good on my body." She told him looking at his eyes.

There was something in her eyes, not the fact that she was high, but he saw something. Almost as if she was trying to seduce him.

"Touch me." She begged again.

He reached his hand over to the arm she was rubbing. Using his finger tips, he slowly caressed her skin. This made Helga shudder, so hard even Arnold noticed. He gulped. He slowly trailed up her neck and caressed her softly there. She closed her eyes and rubbed her head on his hand, as if she was a house cat.

Arnold crawled on the bed and got behind her. He began caressing the back of her neck, then she lifted up her hair so he could get more skin. The sight of more skin on her neck made Arnold crazy. So crazy, he kissed it. The soft kiss upon Helga's neck made her groan. Helga's groan had other side effects on Arnold's body. Arnold's hot breath on her neck drove Helga mad. He pressed against her back, and she felt it again. Unlike last night, she wasn't going to bolt.

"I can feel you." She told him.

Arnold's face turned red. "Y-Yeah?"

Helga nodded. "Mmhmm. I like it." She turned her head to face him. She was so close to him. His mouth inches away. She stared at his mouth. She wanted to kiss him, the wanting made her whole body tingle. She had an urge to over take him. It overwhemled her. If only her knew what she wanted to do to him.

She pressed her mouth against his, hard. She moaned into his mouth as she felt his tounge swirl around in her mouth. Arnold's hands grasped at her shirt, wanting to take it off of her.

She broke away from the kiss. "Go ahead." She whispered to him.

He slowly lifted her shirt over her head to reveal her black bra. She looked up at him with big eyes. "I want to feel you." She said.

Arnold was buring, everywhere. His head, in his mind, his body. He wanted Helga so bad, but knew he couldn't take advantage of her in this kind of state. But he couldn't bring himself to stop his self. Helga, tired of wait, grabbed his hand and put it on her breast, over her bra.

Arnold squeeze slightly, but then took his hand away. "Helga, I can't. You-You're intoxicated. And it's not right."

Helga frowned. "What?" She asked.

He backed away from her, afraid she was going to blow up. "Helga, you're not you right now. So we-I can't do this."

"Arnold, please!" She begged. "My body aches for..for something!"

Arnold shook his head. "No, Helga." Even though the friend in his pants was saying Yes Yes Yes you idiot!

Helga rolled her eyes and rolled off the bed. "Fine." She put on her shirt and made her way to the bathroom. "I'll do it on my own." She slammed the door.

Arnold stayed in his spot on the bed for a couple seconds until he heard some noises from the bathroom. He put his ear against the wall. The moans were enough. His pants got tighter and he couldn't take it. Not after last night. He had to take care of it, just like Helga. They both ended up doing the same thing, just not with each other.


	8. Ice Rocks That Fall

Helga woke up on the couch out in the common area. Her head hurt and she still felt really sleepy. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Looking out the window, thats when she noticed they were stopped. Helga looked around and found no one. Then she heard mummbling outside. She got up and went to the bathroom to freshen up and brush her hair. Once she was finished, she joined the voices outside. There she found her three companions looking at the R.V. with questionable faces.

"Helga." Pheobe looked over with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Not bad, just a little hung over. Where are we?" Helga looked around to see nothing. No houses, no farms, just open fields as far as you could see. The grass was high and the clouds were dark. A thunderstorm was coming.

"Nebraska." Gerald replied. "Turns out you gotta gas this thing up every once and a while."

Helga slapped her forehead in annoyance, then she saw Arnold. He wasn't making any eye contact, which Helga didn't blame him for. She acted like a total loon last night. He was bent down, looking at the under belly of the R.V.

"What now?" She asked.

"We have to decide who's walking to the gas station." Arnold suddenly said standing up, brushing his pants off.

"I think the boys should go." Pheobe chipped in.

Helga, thinking how she wanted to be alone with Arnold again to make it up to herself from last night, had to think fast.

"What if something happens here?" Helga asked. "I think one of the boys should stay here."

Pheobe rubbed her chin. "You're right Helga. Maybe you and Arnold should stay. You should definately should rest up from last night."

Gerald, not looking to happy about the new desision. "Are you sure about this?"

"Helga's right. One man should stay and one should go." Arnold agreed.

_*LATER*_

It had been maybe an half and hour after they left and the sky was gteting darker. It started to drizzle outside. Arnold had left Helga alone to check the R.V. to make sure it just needed gas, until it started to drizzle. He found Helga lounging on the couch, tuning in into the radio. Which wasn't getting any good stations out in the middle of now where.

"Damn Nebraska." Helga mummbled tossing the radio.

Without saying anything, Arnold went to the sink to wash his hands. Helga could feel the awkwardness of the room. Arnold turned to face Helga and took a long look at her. She returned his gaze, only biting her bottom lip. Arnold watched her.

"Why are you being such a creep?" She asked rudely.

Arnold frowned. "No more, Helga."

"What?"

His voice suddenly became louder. "What is your problem, Helga?" Arnold flailed his arms. "I know you were on whatever last night but how can you treat me this way?!"

Helga was taken back by his suddenly extreme emotions. "W-What?" She said nervously.

Arnold looked at the ceiling and pulled his hair. "Ugh! You drive me crazy!"

Helga stood up from her spot and tried to calm Arnold. "Listen, Arnold, I'm sorry, okay? I don't really have much of a...willpower when it comes to that..kinda stuff." She looked at him but ended up looking down at her shuffling feet on the floor.

Arnold tried looking into her eyes. A clash of thunder from the sky made them both jump. Both embarrassed, they laughed nervously.

"Helga.."

She looked back up at Arnold's eyes, they eyes she wrote about so many times.

"I remember, Helga."

She gave him a puzzling look. What was he saying? What was he about to come across?

"I remember when we were kids. I remember when we were teens. I remember how you used to feel about me and I definately remember last night." Arnold reached out to touch her arm but she pulled away. Then he knew she had thrown up her walls and there was no getting to her now.

"I need to know if you..still love me."

Her heart seemed to stop. Her eyes only making contact with the floor flashed up quickly to meet his gaze. She said the quickest thing that came to her mind.

"I don't even love myself. How could I possibly still love you?" Helga marched to the back room and slammed the door.

Arnold hung his head low. There had to be a way to get inside that girl's head. Something that shouldn't involve drugs or alcohol. Arnold sat down and buried his face into his hands. The pitter patter of the rain outside was getting harder. His mind wondered off to Gerald and Pheobe and why it was taking them so long. The weather was getting pretty servere and it was something they shouldn't be walking in. He walked over ot the window and looked down the road in hopes to see them walking or now running, to the R.V.

But no luck. The wide open plains on Nebraska made it easy to look around. Easy enough to see the large storm cloud that was now almost overhead, but not easy enough to spot Gerald and Pheobe.

Arnold sat back down on the passenger seat aloowing himself a view incase they were coming up some time shortly. He began listening to the rain pour harder and harder. And he listened to the thunder get louder and closly follow the lightining shortly after. He mind slowly wondered back to Helga. He knew he wanted her. He could've taken her last night. But he knew it wasn't the right thing. Surely, he would go to hell when the comet hit for trying to rape his best friend.

Best friend?

He watched the water collect on the road. Helga, his best friend. Maybe that was an under statement, but it seemed whenver his ass was in real trouble, she was there. Like a best frined would be. But since when does he have a best friend that has boobs and a vagina he wanted so desperatly. He shook his head, sometimes having a man brain was difficult. Especially now he has a woman best friend now.

The rain outside had become real loud, banging on the roof of the R.V. Arnold looked up toward the ceiling. He had never ehard rain that loud before. He then suddenly heard the back room door slowly open. His eyes met Helga. The look on her face had the look of worry.

"Arnold.."

He suddenly turned around to face the road. That was no rain. Hail was failing from the sky. He got up and opened the R.V. door just enough to stick is arm outside. Yep, it was hail.

"It's hail.." Arnold said quietly.

Arnold had never seen hail, since he grew up in the northeast, where they rarely have hail. It was small, small enough to fit inside a coffee cup. He closed the door and looked at Helga, who was still at the back room door. She seemed to be clinging to it at if it would save her life.

"What do we do?"

Arnold thought for a minute. They should probably get to a more sturdy building, but with no gas and no sight of a building anywhere, he wasn't sure what to do.

Then all of a sudden, it stopped. The rain, the hail, the thunder. Helga had let go of her door and looked ot the window above the couch.

"Well, that was weird." She muttered.

Something hit Arnold's ears. Something coming through the door outside. It was dull at first, but he could tell it was getting louder. It sounded mechanical, almost like rushing water.

"A train?" He questioned his self.

He opened the door one more time to look out and what he saw made his heart jump into his throat. There was a funnel, meters across, touching the ground. It was a reddish grey tint. The wind blew so hard it flung the door out of Arnold's hand and slammed against the side of the R.V.

He could feel Helga walk behind him. Herself wondering what Arnold could be looking at.

"Holy fuck. It's a tornado!"


	9. The Break Down

Helga looked at Arnold with terror in her eyes. They were begging him, pleading, asking for help. "What do we do, Arnold?!" She asked him, her hair flying in all directions.

He stood there with his mouth gapping open slightly, not sure how to answer her question. The R.V. was dead, it had no gas. Gerald and Pheobe went off to go get some more, and he didn't even want to think about them right now. There were no buildings in sight, no barns in the distance like in the twister movies. He didn't know what to do.

"Arnold!" Helga pleaded, trying to yell over the roar of the storm.

Her scream made him come back to reality, away from his panicing thoughts. "We have to hide! We have to take cover!"

"Where?!"

Arnold dragged Helga outside and looked around. The dirt flying around made his eyes water. He knew they had to get low. And there, he saw thier ray of hope. A ditch. He ran off to the side of the road, a couple feet down, he guild Helga into the ditch.

"Are you crazy?! This will never work!" She yelled at him.

"Just lay down! I will cover you!" Arnold, practically shoving Helga into the muddy ditch, yelled. He then, layed upon her, trying to protect her the best he could.

Helga half tremendously happy Arnold was laying ontop of her, half incredibly anger her face was in mud and about to get sucked up into the sky. She didn't want it to end like this. How was she going to tell Arnold she still loved him with her face in mud. She could feel the ground beneath her shake more and more, she knew the twister was getting close.

"Arnold!" She tried yelling over the commotion. "Arnold! I have to tell you something!" She lifted her head up as high as she could, but the wieght of him on her back made it difficult.

"What!?" He gave off a face as if her didn't understand, maybe didn't hear her.

"I have to tell you that day on the roof top-"

"Get down!"

The tornado was feet from them, Arnold noticing this put all his might on Helga. Gipping the ground, dirt going under his fingernails. But just then, he felt the wind slow. Not just slow, but completely stop all together. Arnold opened his tightly shut eyes, and looked around. The tornado had vanished into thin air. He blinked his eyes serveral times to make sure he was still alive. He looked around. Yep. It was gone. He sat up just enough for Helga to lift her head.

"What the hell!" She sceamed, flinging the mud off her face.

"Helga..it's gone." Arnold said in nearly a whsiper.

Arnold looked up to the sky. It still seemed dark. Really dark.

"Wait..."

"What?" Helga asked, her tone changing in an instant.

"I don't think it's over..." Arnold could her the sky. It was almost like it had a stomach and it was hungry. The clouds twirled above him, and the wind started to pick up.

"Helga, it's coming back!" Arnold tackled Helga back into the ground, dirtying her face again. The twister touched down again, but instead of it being on thier right, the twister was now on thier left on the concret road. It had jumped them and made it's way toward thier R.V. Arnold noticing the tornado was now heading in the oppisite direction, he lifted his head slightly.

"No.."

The tornado was making its way down the road quickly and picked up the R.V. fasted than a blink of an eye. Helga then lifter her head up, just in time to see the R.V. get lifted up off it's wheels and slowly spin into the air. She bit her lip and wanted desperatly to cry. There goes the last of her things and thier transportation. Now they were stuck in the middle of tornado alley. The R.V. now disapeared from thier view into the dark funnel cloud. The tornado made it across the road and was now a good distance from them. Arnold stood up, brushing himself off. Then helped Helga out of the dirt.

"Great. This is just great! There goes our ride, there goes everything we brought with us, there goes the reason why Pheobe and Gerald left! Ugh! Could things possibly get any worse?! Fuck! What are we going to do?!" Helga screamed, almost in tears.

Arnold knew Helga was clearly breaking down. Everyone gets thier one freak out when they find out the world is ending. Helga buried her face into her hands and was brought down to her knees.

"God! I don't know what to do anymore!" Helga sobbed into her hands. "I just want to die already!"

These words brought Arnold down to his knees. "Helga, don't say that. If you weren't here with me right now...I don't know what I would do."

Helga uncovered her face and looked up at him. "Really?"

"Really. You have been giving motivation to press on. You can't give up on me now." He wiped the tears from her face.

"You don't mean that."

"Yes, I do. Helga, I'm so glad you're with me. We will press on and we will be okay. As long as we have each other." Then he hugged her. He hugged her tighter than he ever had before. Then the rain came. It came down hard.

Helga began to laugh. Quietly at first but then her laughter got louder and louder. Arnold gave her a funny look, but couldn't help but smile. Her laughter was infectious, and he began to laugh too as it poured down on thier heads.

"What is so funny?" He finally asked her.

"It's like we're in a movie right now. Bad things keep happening and we're okay. A tornado jumped us for god sake! And I said could it get any worse and it started raining. Arnold, we are in a movie." She laughed threw her words.

"I hope we're in a comedy."


End file.
